“Do you trust me?”
Directed by: Ron Clements, John Musker
Written by: Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Cast: Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Robin Williams, Jonathon Freeman
Swift shot: On August 11, 2014, a wonderfully funny character was taken from us all too soon. He breathed energy into everything he was a part of, and he could make an average film something magical. The first time I truly realized this was when I watched Aladdin. I was fresh out of boot camp, and one of my officers kept singing songs in our office from what I knew to be Aladdin. I gave him a puzzled look, and he just stared right back at me and said, “Eff you, it’s Aladdin!” Disney has just made Aladdin available on Blu-ray and their new Disney Movies Anywhere app, which is how I watched it. I hadn’t watched anything with Williams since that tragic day that classic comedy died.
Is it the songs that stick with you, is it the one-liners that were clearly improvised by the legendary comedian, or is it the non-speaking characters (and there are many) that manage to say so much simply by the brilliance of the animators? I think it’s all those things, in tandem, that make Aladdin so beloved.
The story of Aladdin is almost literally as old as recorded history, a myth about a peddler and how he comes into incredible power. The Disney version focuses around the pursuit of power and the notion that the value of someone has nothing to do with what they appear to be, but rather who they are inside as well as a valuable element about the role of leadership as we learn about delegating authority versus responsibility . . . and the perils that can bring.
The Sultan’s vizier, Jafar (Freeman) is tired of being a servant and has concocted a plan to obtain the throne by any means necessary. There is a legend about a cave of wonders that houses a magical lamp, a simple lamp that possesses an ancient power that hasn’t been unleashed in 10,000 years. With this lamp, and this power, Jafar plans to take over Agrabah. Jafar has an evil pet in the form of Iago (Gilbert Gottfried), a cruel parrot that helps his sinister master throughout the film. Jafar tries to get others to enter the cave for him. After one failure, Jafar is given a vision of Aladdin, the “diamond in the rough” that is the only one worthy of entering the cave.
Meanwhile, Aladdin has no clue how his life is about to change. He is content stealing food with his little buddy, a small monkey named Abu. While Abu has no real lines, he is very expressive and easily understood. He loves Aladdin and everything is going along fairly well, they steal food, they eat it, or share it with street orphans and escape justice. In one repeated refrain, Aladdin sings “Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we’d get along,” to the Sultan’s guards. But, all that changes when he first sees Princess Jasmine. In fact, everything changes. He is no longer content with just surviving, now he desires something more.
Jasmine, it seems has fled the palace to escape being married to a princely suitor by her father. She has a pet too, Raja, a not so tiny tiger that delights in shredding princely trousers. (There’s one more pet coming up, so stay with me, folks.) Jasmine is tired of being told what to do, she’s tired of the restrictions placed on her for merely being the princess and wants to run away. That’s when she runs into Aladdin who helps her get away from the Sultan’s guards. Only, they don’t get away, and she is returned to the palace while Aladdin is set to meet his fate. In the dungeon, Aladdin meets an old man who makes a deal with him, he will help him escape if Aladdin will retrieve a lamp from a distant cave. He thinks the old guy is nuts, but he wants out of the dungeon, so he agrees.
Up until this point in the film, there’s only the force of Aladdin and Abu to keep us engaged, but once Aladdin discovers Genie (Williams) in the lamp, the film takes off like a lightning sand whirlwind with Genie delivering a rapid fire battery of one-liners, and the animators (figuratively speaking) could barely keep up with him. One second he’s Ed Sullivan, then he’s a giant dog, or a bee, and because he’s got no limitations to his power, except for three rules, Genie is explosively brilliant, in every sense of the word. I mean, he’s been trapped in that lamp for 10,000 years and he’s just happy to be able to stretch out and about. Williams really sells this concept and makes the movie one of the funniest animated films of all time.
Once Genie is employed by Aladdin, he helps him woo Jasmine, first by magically making him a phony prince, Ali. Jafar is not too thrilled when he meets Prince Ali, or Abubu as he calls him, because Iago’s just given Jafar the brilliant idea to marry Jasmine himself and then he would become Sultan without the need of any lamp. Now the stage is set for a bizarre love triangle, where Aladdin is pretending to be someone he isn’t to impress Jasmine, and Jafar is only interested in marrying Jasmine to get to her father’s throne. Meanwhile, Jasmine doesn’t want any prince, she wants that scruffy boy she met in the market, Aladdin.
Of course, everything unravels and Aladdin is exposed as a fraud, he loses Genie to Jafar. And Jasmine, unwillingly, becomes Jafar’s chattel in a scene right out of Jabba’s palace! I had forgotten that part, actually. Now, Aladdin has to save the princess, and by extension Agrabah, all without the help of Genie. Worse than that, Genie is now working against him and for Jafar. Not good. But, Genie’s pet is Magic Carpet, another droid-like character who swoops in to the rescue.
Aladdin is a musical tapestry of rich, colorful characters and memorable songs that magically transports you to a realm where anything is possible. It will stand the test of time, assuming people can get over themselves claiming it is racist, or sexist, or thisist, or thatist. I can remember when people weren’t so offended by everything, it was a time when Genie soared and music guided our hearts. Ah, to be free, again.
